Another Contract For All-Star

By Eliza Hallabeck

While polls were closing for the second round referendum, the Board of Education met for a regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, May 15, and passed multiple motions, including the approval of a bus contract for the district’s field trip and athletic transportation.

The five-year contract for field trip and athletic transportation was awarded to All-Star Transportation through a unanimous vote of the school board. All-Star was also previously awarded the 2012-17 contract for regular education routes in the district starting June 1. The Torrington-based company was the only company to submit a bid for the contract when it was opened for bids on Wednesday, May 9.

District Business Director Ronald Bienkowski told the school board during its meeting on Tuesday that the contract was announced publicly through local media.

Most of the cost for field trip transportation in the district is covered by Parent Teacher Associations, and most of the cost needed to be covered by the district is for the high school, according to Mr Bienkowski. The cost for the contract for the Board of Education covers the high school field trip and athletic transportation. The contract is currently overseen by McCutchan Transportation.

The contract allotted for $168,000 in 2011-12, Mr Bienkowski reported, and for the 2012-13 contract year the cost will be $149,000. By the fifth year of All-Star’s contract, Mr Bienkowski said the district will pay $155,000 to cover the expenses of the contract.

“I think overall it is a great deal for the taxpayers,” said Mr Bienkowski.

All-Star, Mr Bienkowski said, has agreed to provide 2013 buses with air conditioning and luggage compartments to fulfill the contract.

After Mr Bienkowski delivered his monthly financial report to the school board, he also updated the board members about information he and district Director of Facilities Gino Faiella have been compiling over the last couple months, with input from the town. Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) and Yankee Gas have provided the district with reports on electric and gas usage, and CL&P provided a review, at no charge to the district, of what projects could be done to save energy.

“If you saw the detail behind this, you would be pretty impressed,” Mr Bienkowski said.

The projects, he said, would start at costing the district $123,000, but roughly $42,000 would be returned to the district. The energy saving projects, Mr Bienkowski continued, would also save roughly $32,000 a year.

“Our energy costs will go down immediately when these projects are completed,” he said.

Also during the meeting the board voted unanimously to use the $222,000 projected as the remaining balance for this fiscal year to complete projects from the plant maintenance and technology budgets that were removed from the 2012-13 budget before the school board voted to pass its budget on through the budget process.

During the public participation portion of the meeting, resident Joe DeVellis told the Board of Education he last spoke “some Board of Education meetings ago” regarding a young man’s complaint of bullying on a sports team at Newtown High School and a lack of support the student found at the school.

“It is now May 15 and I have not heard about this from the board or from the superintendent,” said Mr DeVellis.

Mr DeVellis expressed his confusion over the school board’s attention to copier contracts and busing issues while the bullying complaint and issue is not getting the attention it deserves. Mr DeVellis asked the school board to show students that it has zero tolerance for bullying.

Griselle Santos also spoke about the bullying topic.

“My son was indeed bullied,” said Mrs Santos, saying she received a letter from Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson during the school district’s spring break acknowledging her son’s bullying complaint.

Mrs Santos said she has attended every school board meeting since the topic was first made public in the hopes of hearing a resolution, of hearing how the district will move forward.

“No child should have to go through what my son has,” said Mrs Santos.

Mrs Santos said she wants to make sure changes come to the community.